Abbreviated Season Finale Duration: Duration of Final Game Stands at 29 Minutes
In an extraordinary turn of events, the football C-juniors of SuS 09 Dinslaken's match against 1. FC Lintfort in the Niederrheinliga qualification was abandoned after 29 minutes, with SuS leading 6-1. The match was halted due to an injury crisis at Lintfort, leaving them with only six players.
The SuS team, coached by Nilak Uthayakumar, celebrated their promotion to the Niederrheinliga shortly after the abandonment. The promotion celebration took place with trainers and relatives, followed by pizza and cold drinks. Erik Cwieczek, Jiyan Önemli (twice), Deniz Canogullari, Constantinn Flierman, and Giovanni Frasca scored for SuS 09 Dinslaken.
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the challenges faced in lower-tier football, where smaller squad sizes can lead to sudden injury crises. The Niederrheinliga and the Football Association of the Lower Rhine (FVN) emphasise fair play and safety, with the referee's role being to monitor the number of players on the pitch. If players cannot continue due to injury and are not replaceable because no substitutes remain or squad size is insufficient, the match is stopped.
The B-juniors of SuS 09 Dinslaken, who finished the qualification round with one win and two losses, will play in the newly founded Rhein-Ruhr-Liga in the next season. Their last match, against SVG Neuss-Weissenberg, resulted in a 1:3 (1:1) loss, which did not involve the same injury crisis as the C-juniors' match against 1. FC Lintfort.
It is essential for clubs to maintain communication with the league office if facing player availability issues, as abandonment is always a last resort. Clubs are advised to ensure squad depth to mitigate these risks, and in some cases, special dispensations or player loans are arranged to avoid abandonment in future matches.
The SuS 09 Dinslaken team, having a passion for sports and Football, finds themselves promoted to the Niederrheinliga, a feat they celebrated with their trainers, relatives, and some delightful pizza and cold drinks. However, this incident serves as a reminder of the potential challenges in lower-tier football, where the dearth of substitutes can cause sudden injury crises, endangering matches as it did with the C-juniors' game against 1. FC Lintfort.
